1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an intermesh engagement device.
2. Description of Related Art
There is an existing intermesh engagement device. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-25279 (JP 2010-25279 A) describes a controller for an electromagnetic clutch. The controller includes first setting means and second setting means. At the time when a pair of clutch elements are changed from a non-engaged state to an engaged state, the first setting means sets a first drive current as an initial drive current for an electromagnetic actuator such that a plunger is accelerated in a direction as a result of application of an urging force to the plunger and then the plunger is decelerated in the direction as a result of the fact that an elastic force exceeds the urging force in response to a stroke amount. The second setting means sets a second drive current that is a new drive current for the electromagnetic actuator such that, after the plunger has been decelerated, impact that occurs at the time of contact of the plunger with a stopper is reduced.
There is still room for improvement in reducing impact due to a collision between a moving member, such as a plunger, and a stopper. For example, the configuration that a transmission spring that transmits the thrust of an actuator is interposed between the moving member and a sleeve is under review. With this configuration, the sleeve and the moving member are relatively movable. Therefore, there is a situation that the stroke amount of the sleeve and the stoke amount of the moving member do not coincide with each other. For example, if the movement of the sleeve is restricted because of contact of a piece with the sleeve, only the moving member can make a stroke while the stoke of the sleeve remains stopped. With such a configuration, if the thrust is controlled on the basis of the stroke amount of the sleeve, there is a possibility that collision noise is not sufficiently reduced because the speed of the moving member is not accurately controlled.